AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting

There are 4 modules of essential accountancy related business skills in Level 2. These modules teach you the core accountancy knowledge, basic principles and good communication skills expected of a trainee accounting technician.

You'll develop accountancy skills in the finance function including double entry bookkeeping, knowledge of the external business environment plus the basic principles of core accounting skills.

You'll also learn about internal cost management through learning cost recording techniques, understanding actual and budgeted costs plus cost recording systems within basic costing.

Level 2 takes your understanding beyond accounting. You develop professional skills and business knowledge to understand principles of corporate social responsibility in both external and internal environments.

By the end of this course, you'll be able to:

• Set up bookkeeping systems to process financial transactions
• Record transactions correctly in ledger accounts using double-entry bookkeeping principles
• Process customer, supplier, receipt and payment transactions with confidence
• Prepare trial balances and identify errors using journals and reconciliations
• Understand bookkeeping controls, including VAT, control accounts and bank reconciliation processes
• Use cost recording techniques and support basic costing calculations Provide information on actual and budgeted costs and produce budgeted cost reports in appropriate formats
• Understand the wider business environment, including the finance function, contract law, ethics and sustainability

Unit 1: Introduction to Bookkeeping

This unit covers core financial accounting skills in both manual and digital double-entry bookkeeping systems. You'll learn bookkeeping principles, basic business principles and procedures behind double-entry bookkeeping.

You'll develop knowledge around business entities, finance administration and fundamental accounting techniques. Whilst also understanding various accounting records to prepare accountancy legal framework accounts.

As you develop, your business skills will increase, developing transferable business skills in customer transactions and supplier transactions.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand how to set up bookkeeping systems to process transactions
• Process customer transaction process payment transactions and associated documents
• Process supplier payment process transactions and associated documents
• Process receipts and payments
• Process transactions into the ledger accounts

By the end of this unit, you'll be able to:

• Set up bookkeeping systems and process transactions
• Process customer transactions, supplier transactions, receipts and payments Record transactions in ledger accounts
• Record transactions in ledger accounts
• Work with associated business documents used in day-to-day bookkeeping
• The content covered in this unit, once passed, contributes to the knowledge required by employers for accounting entry level roles as:
• Accounts payable clerk
• General accounts assistant
• Accounts receivable clerk
• Trainee accounting technician
• Accounts Administrator

Unit 2: Principles of Bookkeeping Controls

Building on Unit 1, this unit focuses on the bookkeeping essentials of control accounts, bookkeeping control principles, journals, and bank reconciliations. 

Learning outcomes:

• Explores accounts receivable control accounts and accounts payable control accounts for customer and supplier. Your skills acquired will enable you to check accuracy and explore control account reconciliations
• Reconcile the bank statement and cash book ensuring the bank statement and monetary entries are correct
• You will develop skills required to prepare journals to reverse any errors made or identified by the trial balance
• Produce an initial trial balances to ensure double-entries have been correctly completed

By the end of this unit, you'll be able to:

• Use accounts receivable and accounts payable control accounts
• Reconcile control accounts to help check accuracy
• Reconcile the bank statement and cash book
• Prepare journals to correct errors
• Produce an initial trial balance
• Understand key bookkeeping controls, including VAT and how VAT affects accounting records

Unit 3: Principles of Costing

This unit introduces you to basic costing management and basic costing principles. Skills needed to support cost calculations for more advanced costing and management accounting tasks in the future.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand the cost recording system within an organisation
• Use cost recording techniques in appropriate formats
• Provide information on actual and budgeted costs and income
• Use tools and techniques to support cost calculations

By the end of this unit, you'll be able to:

• Work within the cost recording system of an organisation
• Calculate cost recording techniques in the correct format
• Calculate information on actual and budgeted costs and income
• Produce simple budgeted cost information and reports

Unit 4: The Business Environment

Gain an in-depth and solid foundation of understanding in the wider aspects of business including the business environment, key business concepts and their real-world applications. This unit in the AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting qualification also explores contract law, the legal system and the role of the finance function in business.

Learning outcomes:

• Understand the principles of contract law
• Understand the external business environment
• Understand key principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR), ethics and sustainability
• Understand the impact of setting up different types of business entities
• Understand the finance function within an organisation
• Produce work in appropriate formats and communicate effectively
• Understand the importance of information to business operations

The AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting qualification can typically be completed in 6 to 9 months depending on your personal study pace and prior knowledge. Estimated weekly study hours typically 6-8 hours a week.

Your course includes 12 months of access to all the course materials and tutor support.

You can study at your own pace with the knowledge that you will complete comfortably, within the 12 months.

On completion of Level 2, you'll have the confidence that you're ready to begin your accounting career.

Your personal skills alongside business acumen, operational skills, knowledge of digital bookkeeping systems and digital accounting systems ensure you'll contribute effectively within any finance function.

The AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting requires you to pass three objective-type exams and one synoptic assessment before gaining the qualification. The examination fees and AAT registration fee are additional to the course fees. You can sit your exams from home via remote invigilation or a test centre local to you. Our Support Team will explain everything you need to know when you're ready to take your exam.

Exam Details

The following exams assess the learning outcomes covered in each unit.

• Introduction to Bookkeeping: 90 minutes - objective assessment
• Principles of Bookkeeping Controls: 90 minutes - objective assessment
• Principles of Costing: 90 minutes - objective assessment
• The Business Environment: 120 minutes - synoptic assessment

Each objective assessment: examines the content of the unit in question only. The bulk of the examination consists of multiple sections of simulated accounts preparation. There are also short questions to answer with some being multi-choice.

Objective test assessment results are received within 24 hours except, if sat through remote invigilation, which can take several days to appear in your MyAAT account. You’ll receive an email from AAT when your results are ready.

The synoptic assessment: differs because it tests your understanding of all Level 2 units in the context of the business environment. Synoptic assessment results take 6 weeks.

Once you've completed your exams, the marks per exam are converted into a percentage based on the weighted contribution of each exam towards the overall pass grade. Please see weighting below:

• Introduction to Bookkeeping: 25%
• Principles of Bookkeeping Controls: 25%
• Principles of Costing: 20%
• The Business Environment (Synoptic assessment): 30%

The pass mark for each exam is 70%.

Pass mark awards:

• Distinction: 90–100%
• Merit: 80–89%
• Pass: 70–79%
• Unclassified: 0–69% (or failure to pass one or more assessments)

You can sit the exams via remote invigilation booked via e-Careers or at an AAT-approved assessment centre.

AAT assessment centres:

Remote invigilation with e-Careers

If you prefer to sit your exams in the comfort of your own home. There are a lot of benefits to remote invigilation.You can choose any date to suit your commitments and you have total flexibility during the exam day as to when you sit the exam. You will be sent instructions on remote invigilation compliance when you book your exam through e-Careers. It’s really straightforward.

AAT examination fees and AAT membership fees are not included:

Examination and AAT membership fees are not included in the course fees paid to e-Careers.

Examination fees are paid directly to the assessment centre or e-Careers if booking a remote invigilated exam. You pay for exams as and when you sit each exam. Assessment fees can vary depending on the assessment centre invigilation fees.

AAT membership is paid directly to AAT on or shortly after enrolment. Student membership covers the lifetime of the qualification under the current syllabus.

Accredited by the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT)

The AAT is the UK leading professional body for accountancy technicians. The qualifications are regulated and accredited on the regulated qualifications framework (RQF). e-Careers is an officially accredited AAT Training Provider and Winners of the AAT Distance Learning Provider of the Year 2026.

The AAT Level 2 course is 100% online and designed to fit around your life. You can study fully online at your own pace, whether that means during the day, in the evenings or at weekends. There is no need to travel to a venue.

You'll receive 12 months of access to your course materials, giving you the flexibility to learn on a schedule that suits you.

Your course will include multiple study methods:

• Self-paced online e-learning via our award winning learning platform - available 24/7
• Live online classes for extra structure, tutor-led guidance and exam preparation
• Recorded lessons available on demand, for flexible learning or catch up
• Kaplan hardcopy textbooks
• Exam Revision - Mock exams, practice papers, question banks and revision tools

Our flexible delivery means you can choose the study style that works best for you while still benefiting from award winning tutor support throughout your course.

At e-Careers, we provide high quality training, support and resources to help you succeed in your studies. With an award winning eLearning course, Kaplan books, live online classrooms and exam prep sessions (all recorded and available to watch at your own time and convenience). You're also given access to a wide and diverse selection of online materials to support you. In addition, we ensure that expert tutor support is available at every stage of your learning journey.

Expert support

Our exceptional tutor support team is delivered and managed by Karen. We offer some of the fastest response times available.

Karen is a holder of the coveted title of, AAT Tutor of the Year:

As Faculty Director of Accounting and your AAT tutor, Karen plays a central role in supporting your progress throughout the course. She holds the prestigious title of AAT Tutor of the Year, reflecting both her subject expertise and her commitment to helping students succeed with confidence.

Karen completed AAT Levels 2, 3 and 4 while gaining hands-on experience in one of the big four accounting practices, where she worked for 14 years.

She began her teaching career delivering Sage training before moving into AAT tuition and has since built an outstanding reputation for combining technical knowledge with clear, supportive teaching.

Her professional achievements include completing an assessor qualification, a CertEd teaching qualification and all ACCA exams, alongside wider leadership experience as a Vice Chair for an awarding organisation and Chair of Audit and Finance.

For you as a learner, it means support from someone who understands both the qualification itself and the realities of working in accounting. Whether you need help understanding a topic or preparing for an exam, you'll be guided by a highly experienced tutor who knows what it takes to succeed.

Student Forum Support

If you like peer support alongside your tutor support, then you’ll love our very active Student Forum. Whether you want to be an observer and find out about other students’ progress and experience or you want to be a proactive contributor, the Forum welcomes you into the central hub of our student community.

Extensive Resources

• Industry leading Online Course: With videos, animations and interactivity to create an engaging learning platform that enables you to progress through your studies faster.

• Kaplan hardcopy textbooks: We supply you with the world leading Kaplan study textbooks. You will receive four books, one for each unit studied. Each book can also be downloaded to a digital version for learning on the go.

• Live online classroom: Weekly Tutor-led classes including revision and exam prep sessions so you can fully understand each topic and be fully prepared for your exam. Run by our very own award winning AAT Tutor of the Year with experience of teaching in College, you can feel confident you're being taught by the best.

• Recorded lectures: We understand that life is busy, so all of our live online classes are recorded for playback. These are made available to you via our learning platform so you still get to benefit from the sessions at a time that works for you and your personal commitments. You're always in control of when and where you study.

• Online study resources: We've loaded our award winning learning platform with additional materials for 24/7 access to: Practice papers, mock exams, question banks and flash cards to check your understanding, downloadable study books and more to ensure you have everything you need without additional costs.

• Exceptional response times: Industry leading response times you can be sure that your studies can continue without interruption.

• Free Sage certification: We offer official Sage Accounting training with Sage certification and access to Sage software during the training to ensure you have the skills employers are looking for.

• Free Xero Accounting training course with certification to ensure you have access to multiple accounting software knowledge and skills which increases your chance of employability.

• Free AAT Level 1 Certificate in Bookkeeping online course to give you greater confidence before you start the AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting qualification.

• Bonus: Apply for a student discount TOTUM card when studying this course.

We leave no stone unturned to help you land a new job and career. Want us to help you beyond study alone?

Check out our industry-leading AAT Career Academy programmes that take you from novice to qualified with experience. The programmes are available to all ages and include: up to 4-months work experience with a real UK company and all completed around your current job and personal commitments. We'll also professionally write your CV, cover letter and LinkedIn Bio.

1 in 4 of our Career Academy students gain employment with their work experience company . 

Affordability is at the forefront of our course design. Not only do we offer low affordable prices, we also offer flexible payment options that make study more accessible. You can spread the cost with 0% finance plans and choose a payment schedule that suits your budget.

• 0% Finance options up to 24 months

• Employers - If you need training for more than one person, please contact us for a personalised quote. Finance options are also available.

• Want to upskill your staff through an apprenticeship, please contact us for more information.

• Price-match guarantee. We offer the most comprehensive training package at the most affordable prices.

• Please note that exams and AAT membership costs are not included in the course fees.

Studying the AAT level 2 Certificate in Accounting will give you the following benefits:

• It will launch your career in accounting and finance.
• Typical salary range for a Level 2 entry-role is between £20,000 - £28,000
• With experience, your salary will increase to meet your new skills set and qualification.
• With our Career Academy programme we can help you to gain guaranteed work experience, where 1 in 4 are offered paid employment.
• Level 2 opens the door to study the Level 3 Diploma in Accounting where you can become a qualified bookkeeper and set up your own practice..
• The skills learnt at Level 2 are highly respected by employers giving many promotion opportunities.

Entry-level roles for a AAT Level 2 student

• Trainee accountant
• Accounts payable assistant
• Accounts receivable assistant
• Payroll assistant
• Accounts assistant
• Accounts administrator

Each level of the AAT is a qualification in its own right. Accountancy is a single big picture that expands as every level is passed:

• When you have successfully passed AAT Level 2, you have gained the essential accounting skills required to launch your career in accountancy.

• Passing AAT Level 2 Certificate in Accounting, opens the study pathway to AAT Level 3 where you will learn higher-levels of accounting practices. You'll earn AATQB status after studying Level 3, which allows you to set up your own practice.

• Passing Level 3, prepares you to study the AAT level 4 Diploma in Professional Accounting, the final step in your AAT journey to becoming a qualified AAT Accountant.

• Looking beyond the AAT. You may wish to become chartered or look at a career in management accounting by studying any of the following CIMA - CIPFA - ACCA - ACA.

Enrol and kick start your accounting career dreams. A bright new future is waiting for you.